Night Whispers
by lady-warrioress
Summary: 7's bed is broken so she convinces 1 to share his but in doing so she learns something... unsettling about the leader.


Chapter 1

It had been a long and tiring day and 1 was looking forward to climbing into his bed made from an old whicker basket and a large pillow, and taking a much needed rest. After the other stitchpunks under his charge went to their rooms to rest the eldest stitchpunk, the last one up because he wanted to be sure they were all safe, headed to his own room and climbed into the bed. He stared at the full moon glowing outside until his optics shut off.

But he'd no sooner fallen into a doze when his body started back into wakefulness. Something didn't feel right all of a sudden. It felt as if something was watching him.

1 sat up instantly and scanned the darkened room for the source of the feeling. He saw nothing but that didn't mean there wasn't anything there. He thought he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye but when turned his head he saw nothing.

A few more seconds stretched by and then he finally decided there was nothing there. _It must have been my imagination, _he thought.

With a sigh he flopped back onto the soft pillow that made up the mattress but no sooner had he closed his eye shutters when something heavy landed right next to him.

Panicking he let out a screech and sat back up, crawling backwards on his hands until he realized what it was. A white thing sat on the pillow a short distance away from him. In the moonlight he could make out a slender shape and a slightly mocking smile. Right away he knew who it was.

"7!" he shouted, recovering quickly. "What are you doing in here?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" she asked, folding her arms. "I'm going to sleep."

"Not in my bed!" he shouted, now back to his old self. There was no way he was going to share his bed with the female or anyone else for that matter, espeically her! Besides she had her own bed. Why did she suddenly want to sleep in his? "Go sleep in your own bed!"

"I can't," she told him.

"Why not?"

"It broke," she replied.

"It broke! How did it break?"

She obviously didn't want to get into that. "Why does it matter how it broke?" she asked. "It just did."

"Well then why don't you sleep with someone else?" he crabbed. "I'm sure 5 would be willing to share his bed with you."

She ignored his little jab. It was already obvious to everyone that 5 had a crush on 7. "His bed is too small," she replied matter-of-factly. By the sound of her voice he could tell she wasn't all that happy about it.

"Then sleep with 8."

"and get squashed?" her voice was so loud it made him jump. "Oh you'd like that, wouldn't you? Then you wouldn't have to put up with me anymore." she folded her arms and glared at him. "You're not getting rid of me that easily."

1 gaped at her, wondering how she could take him suggesting she sleep with 8 as an attempt on her life. Did she really think that low of him? All well what did that matter anyway? "I have no clue what you're going on about," he growled. "But either way it's not going to change my mind. You're not sleeping in here!"

"Oh, stop being so selfish," she shot back. "What do you need such a big bed to yourself for anyway." he saw her caress the pillow. "Or do you need something this big to accommodate that swelled head of yours?"

That did it. "I'm not going to sit here and have you insulting me." he scrambled to his feet, bringing himself to his full height. "I want you out of here this instant, 7!"

Well she could bring herself to her full height too. Of course she was slightly smaller than him but that didn't stop her. She stood as tall as she could and glared up at him. "You think I made you my first option for this?" she demanded. "You are the last person I want to share a bed with but at the moment I don't have any other choice but to choose this one. My only other option would be sleeping outside.." she smirked. "and I know you wouldn't want that." she added pointedly. "How else would you be able to keep an eye on me, then?"

She had a point. There really weren't any other options. Much as he hated to admit it she was right and he was stuck.

For a moment there was silence with the two stitchpunk glaring at each other.

"Fine," he snapped, giving in.

She smirk grew broader. "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

1's only response was a bad tempered "hmph" before he turned away and moved as far away from her as he could. As he moved he could feel her eyes boring into the back of his head. He chose to ignore her, not wanting to turn around and see the triumphant look on her face. Without even turning around, he lay down and got comfortable being sure to say. "and you better not snore." before he closed his eyes.

7 made a face and sat back down on the pillow.

She lay down but before she could even close her eyes he sat back up and glared at her. She glared right back. "What?" she demanded.

"Don't even think about moving over," he growled. "You stay where you are. I don't need you grabbing me in your sleep."

She laughed at him. "Like I would want to touch you," she said. "You just follow your own rule and stay where you are." then she turned over so her back faced his.

After that there was silence. Within minutes 1 was asleep and 7 could hear his steady breathing. She turned over, chancing a glance at him. He lay still as a stone the only indication he was alive was his breathing, it didn't seem like he'd be moving from that spot for the rest of the night. She smiled to herself. Good.

Now she could focus on her own sleeping.

Laying flat on her back she closed her eyes and tried to drift off to sleep.

She was just beginning to doze when the sound of scraping brought her back to full alertness. Her optics shutters clicked open and she looked around herself. She turned her head, her eyes falling on 1. Was it just her imagination or had he moved?

"1?" she said softly.

He made no response which obviously meant he was sleeping.

Thinking it was just her imagination she tried to go back to sleep. She had just fallen into a light slumber when she was rudely awakened by the sensation of something touching her.

Her entire body jumped in shock and she opened her eyes back up. What she saw took her completely by surprise.

1 had been moving in his sleep after all. Somehow he'd managed to move all the way from the edge of the pillow to the middle where she was sleeping without her sensing it beforehand. She tried to scoot away, not wanting him to invade her personal space further.

But the moment she moved to put more space between them, he moved too. He wiggled close to her then, and before she knew what was happening, he wrapped his arms around her waist and snuggled against her body.

For a moment 7 lay frozen in shock. Had he just done what she thought he'd done? Eventually she recovered and studied him intently.

There was no way he could be doing this in his sleep. he had to be awake and pretending. Why else would he have moved all the way from where he was to her and then grabbed her like this? It had to be intentional and that made her feel irritated. This was the sickest form of revenge anyone could have on her.

Well she wasn't going to play his games. She was not going to let him get away with it, oh no.

"1!" she said, loudly. "Let go of me!"

He didn't even react. Either he was a very heavy sleeper or he was choosing to ignore her.

"1," she growled, grabbing his hands and trying to pry his fingers loose. "Let me go! I don't like you touching me!"

His only response to this was to hang on tighter, like a stubborn child unwilling to give up his favorite toy. This only served to irritate her further. She pulled her legs up to her chest then planted her feet on his, slowly adding pressure as she pushed at his body.

This seemed to work. His grip loosened then fell away She kept pushing until there was a fair amount of distance between them then retreated to the other side of the bed. Maybe now he'd stay where he was.

But that wasn't to be. Within minutes he was coming around again. She sat bolt upright and watched him. He seemed to be reaching for something in his sleep, his right hand groping around the pillow mattress as if expecting to find something.

Maybe he wants his staff? she thought to herself. Yeah or maybe he just wants to grab you again. a voice in her head said a little mockingly.

She hoped it was the former option.

The female stitchpunk cast her eyes round the room, searching the partly lit area for 1's bell staff. She could not find it. He either hadn't brought it in with him or he'd set it somewhere along with his cape and hat which he also didn't have on.

She also thought she heard him whimpering as if not having something to hold onto was causing him distress. Maybe he was so used to having an item grasped in his hand that not having one was interfering with his every function, including sleep.

But this didn't make her want to change her mind about letting him use her for a hugging toy.

"1! Wake up!" she shouted, grabbing his shoulder and shaking him.

He whimpered in his sleep, hugging her tighter. She tried to push him off but he stubbornly held into her.

Finally she just gave up, frowning in annoyance. If she had known he did this in her sleep she never would have come in here. Clingy people were annoying to sleep with, another reason she didn't want to sleep with 5.

"...beasts," he muttered in his sleep.

She rolled her optics. Great, he talked in his sleep too.

"Stay back!" he shouted suddenly. "Don't come near! No no!"

She sighed, looking down at him.

"Please no," he whimpered, hugging her tighter. "Not again... don't go! Please! 7!"

She blinked. Huh.

"Stay back! You can't kill it!"

She pushed him again which only made him cling tighter. She didn't need this. Not only did he cling, and talk in his sleep, but he had nightmares... about her!

Another sound made her pause. Sniffling. She looked at his face. It looked pained, Sad.

"1?" was he crying?

"7..." his voice cracked and his expression became pained. He was crying! He was dreaming about her and crying about it!

This wasn't what she expected from him, even in his sleep. It made him look so frail and helpless. But why would he cry about her? They hated each other and always fought with and yelled at each other. It made no sense to her yet... something inside her seemed to figure it all out.

He acted the way he did because he did indeed care. He told her to stay inside because he didn't want her getting hurt. All that yelling and fighting was just his way to telling her that but she never listened. For some odd reason... she felt as if the reason she fought back was her way to getting his attention back... Maybe she wanted to fight with him because she wanted him to show her he cared...

Did that mean... she... she shook her head. "Naw.."

"7..." he said again, holding her tightly. "Don't go.."

"1... wake up..." she reached down and shook him. "Don't cry. I'm fine."

Suddenly he woke, his optics opening wide. He stared up at her face with a mixture of surprise and relief. "7..."

"You were having a nightmare," she told him.

"I... I was..." he let go, sitting up.

She looked him over. He seemed upset, as if the dream really bothered him. It bothered her too since it hads been about her. "What was it?" she asked. "What happened.. in your dream?"

He didn't look at her as he said softly. "You died."

She stared at him.

"You died and I couldn't do anything about it but watch!"

_A/N _

_I decided to make this a twoshot There seems to be mroe to it than just her spending the night with him because her bed broke. _


End file.
